Detachable tooth and attachment for earth digging implements



Sept. 7, 1937. c. c. HOSMER ET AL DETACHAI BLE TOOTH AND ATTACHMENT FOR EARTH DIGGING IMPLEMENTS Filed Oct. 17, 1934 R 0 F A M M 0 W Patented Sept. 7, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT j OFFICE DETACHABLE TOOTH AND ATTACHMENT FOB. EARTH DIGGING IMPLEMENTS of California Application October 1'], 1934, Serial No. 148,627

6 Claims.

Our invention relates generally to earth digging and handling implements such as bulldozers, back fillers, trail builders and the like and more particularly to a detachable tooth and the mount- 5 ing therefor and which tooth and mounting are generally located at the ends of the mold board or the blade carried thereby and the principal object of our invention is, to provide a relatively simple, strong and durable tooth that functions at the lower corners of the mold board or blade and to provide relatively simple and eflicient means wherebythe tooth is detachably mounted on the blade or mold board.

It will be understood that in earth digging and handling implements such as bulldozers, back fillers, trail builders and the like, the lower corners of the blade andmold board are generally the first to wear away in service and it is one of the purposes of our invention to arrange on the lower corners of the blade or mold board, teeth or digging plates that may be readily replaced when they become worn to such a degree as to be unfit for service.

Our invention includes a housing or socket that is permanently secured to the lower corner of the mold board or blade or to the end bit that is mounted on the end of the mold board and which housing or socket receives the shank portion of a. depending tooth, the latter being secured by suitable means to the housing or socket and capable of being readily removed when worn or broken and replaced by a new tooth.

With the foregoing and other objects in view our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangements of parts that will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing-in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the socket or housing contemplated by our invention and showing the detachable tooth applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2---2 of Fig. 1.

vFig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the detachable tooth.

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the lower corner of a mold board and blade and showing the tooth carrying socket in position upon the mold board.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the lower portion of the socket and showing a modified arrangement for detachably securing the tooth to the socket.

\ Fig. 7 is a vertical section similar to Fig. 6 and showing a stub tooth detachably applied to the socket and which arrangement may be provided when the implement to which the tooth is applied is used for leveling off operations.

Fig. 8 is a front elevational view of the lower comer of a mold board on which is mounted a conventional end bit and with our detachable tooth applied to the lower end of said bit.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing to particularly to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive which illustrate the preferred embodiment of our invention, lfl designates a plate of metal that is permanently secured, preferably by welding, to the front face of the mold board or blade of an earth digging implement such as bulldozers, back fillers, trail builders and the like.

In Fig. 5, the plate I is shown as being secured to the lower corner of the mold board M with the lower end of said plate occupying practically the same horizontal plane with the lower edge of the blade B that is carried by the mold board.

In some instances, it may be found desirable to secure the plate to the lower corner of the blade B or to the conventional end bit that is located on the end of the mold board.

In order to facilitate welding plate Hi to the mold board or hit, the rear vertical corners of the plate may be cut away as designated by lgl.

Formed integral with the lower portion of plate I ll and projecting forwardly therefrom, is a housing l2, comprising end walls, a top wall and a front wall, the latter occupying a plane substantially parallel with plate I0.

This housing may be approximately square or rectangular in shape, or as illustrated, it may gradually decrease in width toward its upper end.

The chamber within the housing If provides a socket l3 for the shank ll of the detachable tooth I5.

The shape and size of thev shank I4 is such that it practically fills the socket l3 and when said shank is inserted in said socket, the tooth l projects a short distance below the lower ends of plate Ill and socket l2.

Tooth l5 and its shank are formed of relatively hard wear resisting metal and the thickness of the tooth l5 may gradually decrease toward its lower edge.

The tooth and its shank are formed in the shape of a flat plate with the front faces of the tooth and the shank occupying the same plane, and one being a continuation of the other, thus the thicknessof the shank is uniform throughout its area, and the thickness of the upper portion of the body'of the tooth is equal to the thickness of the shank, and the thickness of said tooth gradually decreases toward its lower end.

As a result of this construction, the cost of manufacture of the tooth and its shank is minimized, for it may be readily cut or formed from flat plate stock.

Formed in the front and rear faces of shank l4, adjacent its upper end, are horizontally disposed grooves IG and formed in the front face of plate l0, just below the top wall of housing I2, is a horizontally disposed groove H.

The grooves l6 and I! are substantially half round in cross section and the ends of the grooves ll in plate l0 communicate with apertures it that are formed in the end walls of the housing.

Thus when the shank of the tooth is properly seated in the housing, one of the grooves l6 coincides with groove I1 and a fastening member, preferably a cotter pin I9, is inserted through the apertures I8 and through the coinciding grooves l6 and I1. Such arrangement provides simple and effective means for securing the tooth to plate in and housing l2.

Grooves ii are formed in both faces of the shank N, in order that the tooth when reversed in position or turned half round so as to reverse its working face, may be secured to the housin or socket.

Formed in the top of the housing, is an opening 20 of sufficient size to permit the insertion of a punch and which latter may be used in order to drive the shank of the tooth out of its socket within the housing.

In the modified construction illustrated in Fig. 6, a lug 2| is formed integral with and projects upwardly from the upper end of the tooth shank i4 and when the shank is properly seated in the socket, this lug projects through the opening 20 and a cotter pin 22 is inserted through an opening 23 that is formed in said lug, thereby detachably securing the tooth to the socket.

When the tooth is properly applied for use as illustrated in Fig. 5, the body of the tooth projects a short distance below the lower edge of the blade carried by the mold board and during the operation of the implement with which the tooth is associated, said tooth engages the ground just below and just beyond the lower corner of the blade and as a result, rapid wear of the lower corner of the blade and mold board is prevented.

When the tooth becomes unfit for service as a result of excessive wear or breakage, the cotter pin I9 is removed in order that the worn tooth may be removed from the socket and a new tooth may now be applied to the housing or socket and secured thereto by the reinsertion of the cotter pin.

When the implement with which the tooth is associated is used for leveling off operations, the tooth is removed from the socket and a shank 24 is applied to the housing to fill the opening therein and the lower end of this shank terminates just below the lower end of the housing and practically in the same horizontal plane with the lower edge of the blade as illustrated in Fig. 7.

In Fig. 8 we have illustrated the tooth holding plate and socket welded or otherwise permanently secured to the lower front face of the conventional end bit E that is frequently used on the ends of the mold board M of back fillers and trail builders. I

The grooves l6 are formed in both front and rear faces of shank l4 inorder that the tooth may be reversed in position or turned half way around so as to reverse its worldng face and this provision is highly desirable and advantageous by reason of the fact that when the lower outer corner of the tooth body becomes worn away from continued use, the position of the tooth may be reversed in its socket, thereby giving said tooth increased life or period of service.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a detachable tooth and mounting therefor that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and very efiective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

The position of the tooth and its mounting upon the mold board or blade of the earth digging and handling implement is such as to protect the lower corner of the mold board or blade from comparatively rapid wear and as the tooth is readily replaceable, its use materially increases the life or period of usefulness of the blade and mold board, and likewise increases the working capacity and efllciency of the bulldozer, back filler, trail builder or excavator in digging and leveling operations.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of our improved detachable tooth and attachment for earth digging implements may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with an earth digging implement mold board, of a socket permanently secured to the front face of the mold board at the lower end comer thereof, a tooth, a shank formed integral with said tooth, which shank is removably and reversibly positioned in said socket, the side walls of said socket being provided with aligned apertures, there being transverse grooves formed in the upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, and means passing through the apertures in the socket and one of the grooves in the shank for securing said shank within said socket.

2. The combination with an earth digging implement mold board, of a socket permanently secured to the front face of the mold board at the lower end corner thereof, a tooth, a shank formed integral with said tooth, which shank is removably and reversibly positioned in said socket, the side walls of said socket being provided with aligned apertures, there being transverse grooves formed in the upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, means passing through the apertures in the socket and one of the grooves in the shank for securing said shank within said socket, and there being an opening in the upper portion of the socket to give access to the upper end of said shank.

3. The combination with an earth digging implement mold board and a bit on the front face of the end of said mold board, of a socket permanently secured to the lower portion of the bit on the front face thereof, a tooth, a shank integral with said tooth, which shank is adapted to be removably and reversibly positioned in said socket, the side walls of said socket being provided with aligned apertures, there being transverse grooves formed in the upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, and means removably seated in said apertures and one of said grooves for securing the shank within said socket.

4. The combination with an earth digging implement mold board and a bit on the front face socket, the side walls of said socket being pro vided with aligned apertures, there being transverse grooves formed in the upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, means removably seated in said apertures and one of said grooves for securing the shank within said socket, and there being an opening in the upper portion of said socket, which opening communicates with the shank receiving chamber in said socket.

5. A detachable earth digging tooth and mounting therefor comprising a plate, a housing formed integral with the lower portion of said plate, a flat tooth body, a shank formed integral with the upper end of said, tooth body, which shank is adapted to be removably and reversibly positioned in said socket, the side walls of the socket being provided with aligned apertures, there being transversely disposed grooves formed in the upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, and a pin removably seated in said apertures and one of said grooves for securing the shank within said socket.

6. A detachable earth digging tooth and mount: ing therefor comprising a plate, a housing formed integral with the lower portion of said plate, a,

flat tooth body, a shank formed integral with the upper end of said tooth body, which shank is adapted to be removably and reversibly positioned in said socket, the side walls of the socket being provided with aligned apertures, there being transversely disposed grooves formed in the .upper portions of the front and rear faces of said shank, a pin removably seated in said apertures and one of said grooves for securing the shank within said socket, and there being an opening in the top of said socket, which opening communicates with the shank receiving chamber within said socket.

CHESTER C. HOSMER.

ERNIE L. LAUNDER. 

